Jackie Speier

But our work is not done. The Me Too movement is driving change from the boardrooms to the break rooms across our great country. I am committed to ensuring that Congress looks beyond itself to improve the lives of all workers in America…

I thank the ranking member for his generosity and for his great leadership. Mr. Speaker, we are truly here on a historic occasion. It is a rare and crucial moment of bipartisanship. This is the way you can do it-- men and women…

Provide number of senior leader misconduct cases that allegations were substantiated, with action recommended and the Service did not take action.

How big is your inspections backlog? How many days does the average investigation take? How many more investigators do you need?

One of the problems is getting people to report and having trust in the system.

Well, there was a second--there was second woman who then came forward, so there is----

I hope that this becomes an anomaly as we continue to evolve in terms of the issue of sexual harassment.

The DOD IG does disclose substantiated cases, but to my knowledge, there isn't any means by which each of your services would disclose to Congress, for instance, substantiated cases.

Do you feel the current investigations reveal patterns of behavior far enough back in the career to assist the board in making the correct determination?

This is a case that dates back to 2013 and 2017?

Bystanders, do you think bystanders have a duty to report?

I am stunned that there weren't any bystanders that spoke up.

I am more interested in the value of a security clearance because that is worth a lot of money--a whole lot more money than $200,000, frankly.

As I understand it, there have been 70,000 court-martials in the Air Force, for instance, and not 1 general officer has ever been court-martialed.

I think we do have a problem with different spanks for different ranks.

I think we need to be sensitive to the time it takes for these cases.

I think we should probably look at that. Why is it one service can do it----

Whistleblower protection, I would argue, is not enough protection, and that is why people don't come forward because they fear that there will be reprisals.

When 400 service members are implicated in the Fat Leonard scandal, when over 60 admirals are potentially implicated, we have an obligation to look at the process.

I feel compelled to speak because we have an obligation as Members of Congress to do oversight.

I find it unjustified to have inspector generals go through the process of determining, through investigation, conduct that is inappropriate.

I think this chart needs to be reviewed, and I would like for you to come to my office.

But I am totally confused then. It says that zero of these, out of 312 cases, 311 of them were dismissed.

Are you basically saying that none of these cases even deserved to be investigated?

Many senior leaders who should be the essential core of the chain of command are not being held to the same standard as the rank and file.